Foster Friess, former Santorum backer, to trim Super PAC donations

ASPEN, CO – Wyoming millionaire Foster Friess said on Wednesday that he plans to tamp down on donating to Super PACs before the fall election, saying he’d open the spigot more sparingly and selectively across a wider range of candidates and private charities to whom he could give money anonymously.

“I’m going to reduce the amount of money I’m giving to Super PACs for (Mitt) Romney, and I’m going to increase the amount of money I give to support his and other candidacies – the governors, the senators,” Friess said.

Donations to the tune of $2.3 million to the Super PAC supporting Rick Santorum during Republican primaries vaulted Friess into national headlines, which he says he and his wife didn’t appreciate.

“I enjoy anonymity,” he said on Wednesday during an interview with NBC News.

Friess is in this vacation community for the Republican Governors Association “Executive Roundtable” event, which offers high-dollar donors a chance to interact with noted governors – some of whom are rumored to be on Romney’s vice presidential list.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are among the veepstakers on hand.

They, along with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, will participate in a panel hosted by the Aspen Institute later Wednesday.

Friess said his decision not to fund the Super PAC supporting Romney at the same level he supported Santorum’s is not an indication of lack of enthusiasm for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

“You think I’m going to give away $2.3 million in every month of my life? I don’t think so,” he said.

He predicted the general election will swing 55 percent in Romney’s favor, an outcome he describes as a “landslide.”

“I’m convinced this guy loves our country,” he said of Romney.

NBC News intersected Friess as he walked with other donors from the lobby of an Aspen hotel to a nearby restaurant.

He wore a white straw-style cowboy hat and paused to ask directions of locals.

A group of women pointed him in the right direction.

“Women are God’s most beautiful creatures,” he said as they walked away. “After the white-tailed deer and the swan.”

Friess was scheduled to meet on Wednesday afternoon with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, to whom he said he would write a check.